For many baseball fans, their love of the game begins at a very young age and they cheer for their local MLB team. Avid baseball fans will never forget their very first baseball autographed by their favorite player whether they obtained it in person or given to them as a gift. Baseball enthusiasts collect autographed baseballs and other MLB memorabilia as a hobby or as an investment.

Baseball fans everywhere flock to their favorite team’s spring training facilities or arrive early at the ball park to watch their favorite player take batting practice. Hardcore MLB fans, young and old, like to research the up and coming stars while they are in high school, college, and while in spring training. They try and determine who will be the next All-Star and obtain an autographed baseball from them to cherish a memory or have a collectible that may increase in value over time. The value of their newly autographed baseball is determined by how that player’s career flourishes, what MLB team they play on, or how they may fail.

Not only does the value of your autographed baseball depend on the player themselves, but it also depends on the condition of the baseball, the condition of the autograph, and how the baseball was signed by the athlete. Some MLB fans do not care about where the autograph is on the baseball itself as the autographed baseball is more sentimental to them and not meant to be an investment. For those MLB fans that do care about value, the location of the autograph is everything. Autographed baseball collectors say the “Sweet Spot” is the most valuable location for the autograph. For some third-party authenticators such as PSA/DNA, the location of the autograph does not come into consideration when it comes to grading the autograph’s value. However, for serious autograph collectors, the “Sweet Spot” is the best location as it appeals to the eyes of anyone that looks at the autographed collectible. Any MLB autographed baseball that has a signature that is not in the “Sweet Spot” may distract any potential buyer’s interest in purchasing the autographed memorabilia.

Other factors that may determine the value of your MLB autographed baseball include the baseball itself. There are different types of baseballs, but there is only one official MLB baseball. An official MLB baseball will be much more valuable than a baseball you may purchase off the retail shelf or even a practice ball that is used by the players during batting practice. Once again, third-party authenticators do not take into consideration the type of baseball when determining the overall grade of the autographed memorabilia. However, as with the location of the signature itself, avid baseball collectors will be less interested in an autographed baseball if it is not on an official Major League Baseball ball.

Once a collector obtains an autographed baseball, or any others sports memorabilia, they want to take all measures to protecting their collectible. In the “old days”, collectors used shellac (or varnish) to protect the autograph on their baseball. This is no longer an accepted practice as this procedure actually harms the value of the collectible. If a baseball was signed by an athlete from years ago during the time when this practice was common, the value may be preserved due to the age of the collectible and the fact that the baseball may be “rare” (depending on the athlete). But, if the baseball is graded by a third-party authenticator, the amount of shellacking may in fact have an impact on grading and value of the signed baseball. To maintain the value of your autographed baseball and to keep the signature from fading, your collectible should be kept from sunlight and other elements. Most collectors don’t want to keep their sports collectibles hidden and away from the elements as they want everyone to see their collection. In these cases, collectors will display their autographed memorabilia in a UV-protected display case. AAA Sports Memorabilia has a great selection of UV-protected display cases that are perfect for this type of memorabilia and a lot of our display cases can be enhanced with etched MLB team logos on the front.

In conclusion, the value of an autographed baseball depends on several factors which can include the actual baseball itself, location of the signature, the popularity and accomplishments of the athlete, how the autographed memorabilia is preserved, the condition of the collectible itself, the visual aspects of the collectible, the authenticator of the autograph, and the available supply of that particular MLB player’s autographed baseballs. If value of the collectible is not of importance and the main reason for collecting is merely for sentimental value, then these factors are not important.

AAA Sports Memorabilia has a great selection of autographed baseballs and our inventory changes regularly with new items added weekly. Visiting our autographed baseball section often is best if you are looking for that next valuable collectible to add to your collection. We have even more autographed baseballs in stock then what is on our website, so if you can’t find that one baseball that you really want on our site, please contact us at cs@aaasportsmemorabilia.com to see if we have it in stock.